International organisations and authors societies to meet in Senegal to improve private copying in Africa

Dakar, September 10th, 2018 – Authors societies from across Africa will gather in Dakar on September 11th-13th for an international seminar to improve private copying systems across the continent to better support the livelihoods of creators.

Organised by the International Confederation of Societies of Authors and Composers (CISAC) with support from the International Organisation of the Francophonie (OIF), the seminar will unite partners the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) and International Federation of Reproduction Rights Organisations (IFFRO) with 12 African collective management organisations.

Private copying is a key source of revenue for creators throughout the world, and is of growing importance especially in Africa. When properly implemented and enforced, systems for collecting and distributing private copying remuneration can become a solution to provide a better livelihood for creators and the cultural industry.

In Burkina Faso and Algeria, it represented respectively 31.94% and 32.75% of total 2016 revenues according to the 2017 CISAC Global Collections Report. However, in all of Africa, private copying represents only 12% of total collections for African societies according to data from the CISAC Private Copying Global Study.

Early success has already been achieved. Morocco and Tunisia have started collecting private copying, thanks to support from Algeria’s National Office of Copyright and Related Rights (ONDA). Additionally, the Ivory Coast, Senegal and Madagascar are moving closer to implementing and collecting private copying. Supporting these developments, CISAC has recently been engaged through meetings in Abidjan, with WIPO in Algiers as well as in Dakar to lobby legislative changes as well as to train societies to collect and distribute these revenues to creators.

Regarding the private copying seminar, ONDA Director General Sami Bencheikh El Hocine stated:

We are aware that private copying is a great source of collections for creators. It allows creators to record their vision of the world today, and there is no price for that."